On the Fairways with Bill Tait

Bill Tait

Well there can be no complaints this year about the weather conditions, the Girvan Golf Club held their gents, ladies and junior Championships in glorious weather, as did the Turnberry Summer Meeting and the Turnberry Club Championships.

I will start with the Girvan ladies Championship which was won by Liz Neill for the eighth time with Roz McCulloch runner-up yet again. The Bronze champion was Isobel Connor who makes this something of a habit as it is her sixth bronze championship and Isobel proves that experience is a great asset. Well done to both the aforementioned ladies. The best nett three rounds went to Isobel Leitch with Catharine McCrindle runner up. Ladies Captain Anne Bush won the prize for being nearest the pin. However all the ladies got round without ruining their glamorous hairstyles as the rain stayed well away, congratulations to all who took the risk.

The Girvan Gents championship was won by Gary Bryden after an exciting four hole play-off with Gregor Mackintosh both finishing their four rounds on 274. The sudden death play-off went to the fourth hole before Gary sank the winning putt. Stuart White came in third with 281. The second class shield was won by Jim Crawford on 312 followed by Hugh Boyd 316 and Ian Alexander 322.

The handicap Trophy was won by W. McClymont nett 257. A golf shirt from the McCrindle shop in Ayr went to the best nett score of each round with Hugh Boyd on nett 59 winning the first round, Jim Cameron with nett 63s on both the second and fourth rounds to be well supplied with golf shirts and D. Gordon nett 55 deservedly taking home a shirt for the third round. At the presentation Jason Roberts the Club Captain commented on the poor turnout for the Club Championship and asked for suggestions to improve this in the future. He thanked Robert McMaster, the Match Secretary for all his hard work and also Margaret Milligan and her staff for the refreshments and for providing a venue for the presentation.

The Girvan juniors also held their championship with Robbie Allan again champion on 203 with Kyle Brown 213 and Kieran Beauchamp on 232. Kieran Beauchamp won the handicap prize with a nett 160 followed by Alex McCrindle and Kyle Johnstone.

The T.&. H. McCrindle cup was won by George Coombe and John McKie nett 55.6 followed by Bob Cronie and Billy Hewitson nett 56.8. Catharine McCrindle was on hand to present the winners and runners-up with shirts from Tom and Hugh’s ’Pringle’ shop in Ayr. This is a most sought after trophy as the prizes are well worth winning and much appreciated by Club members.

Meanwhile over at Turnberry the Summer Meeting took place again as mentioned in glorious weather with William Young winning (16)70 followed by David Courtney (9)71, Ian Hutcheson (12)71, R. Kilpatrick (5)72 and Ian Rorison (5)72.. The Ailsa Challenge cup for handicaps up to and including 11 was won by David Courtney with the Weir Trophy for handicaps over 11 by William Young.

The final of the Turnberry Club Championships took place last Sunday in hot dry sunny weather. Turnberry Championships are match play with all the qualifiers playing knockout during the week to leave Sunday with two 18 hole rounds to be played by the finalists. I will start with the ladies in the Bronze Section Anne Greenall beat Lesley Brown at the 18th. hole, so it was a very tight game . In the Silver Section Liz Brown became Turnberry Ladies champion for the second consecutive year beating Eileen Munro at the 19th. hole. Well Done Eileen, to take the current ladies champion to the 19th. hole was good going.

The Turnberry gents second class champion is Roddy Gardner who beat Chris Savage 3 & 1. Afterwards Roddy mentioned that 36 holes in one day was very tiring and made it a very long day for him. The Turnberry Club Champion and Gold Medal winner for 2014 is Scott Brown who beat Billy McCulloch at the 16th hole. In the first round Scott had four birdies and an eagle whilst Billy had five birdies in the second round, so it was very impressive scoring. Scott Brown is no novice in this championship having won it twice before. Congratulations to all the above but we must remember that without all the other contestants there would be no championship, so to all who took part Well Done.

QUOTATIONS OF THE WEEK.

‘If a ball comes to rest in dangerous proximity to a hippopotamus or crocodile, another ball may be dropped at a safe distance not nearer the hole without penalty’. A local rule at the Nyanza Golf Club. British East Africa 1952.. I wonder what a safe distance is from a hippopotamus or a crocodile as both can run pretty fast.

TALES FROM THE CADDYSHACK.

I feel that I should not let the opportunity pass without saying a few words about Willie Nibloe who died recently. The name Willie Nibloe for many years was synonymous with that of Girvan Golf Club where he held many posts and was a great servant to the Club. He will be sadly missed and the Club’s sympathies go out to his family.

Well all the local Club championships have been played with a few sighing and thinking to do better next year. However we must always appreciate that these championships are not held without a lot of work being done behind the scenes. Preparation is the theme that comes to mind and it has to be done without too much officiousness.

Girvan Golf Club said goodbye last Friday to Greg Paterson who has been promoted to senior green keeper for courses in the north part of South Ayrshire. We thank him for all his work on the Girvan golf course and wish him good luck in his new appointment. The new head green keeper for the Girvan course is Donald Cameron who used to live in Girvan and still has family connections with the town. The supervisor for our part of South Ayrshire is Kevin Johnstone who will be making frequent appearances at Girvan. We welcome both Donald Cameron and Kevin Johnstone to the Girvan golf course and look forward to the Club having a successful relationship with them.

I trust that I have covered everything correctly as there was a lot to report including photographs. Apologies for any errors or omissions etc., now I can get back on to the golf course well smothered in sun cream..